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The Kansas Senate passed a firearms concealed carry bill, and the House is expected to easily pass a version as well. The real question is whether the legislators will be able to override a promised veto by Gov. Sebelius, as she vetoed a previous bill two years ago. Either way the Republicans win politically on this one, pushing to the forefront that the Governor is not in step on a number of key issues with a generally conservative state.

Governor Sebelius is only Governor because the Republican party in Kansas circled the wagons and shot their own candidate, Tim Shallenburger. The "moderate" Republicans did not like the primary winner, and basically chose to hang the candidate out to dry. After this exercise in cutting off their nose to spite their face, the party has been engineering their return to the Governor's mansion for the past four years.

The timing of this renewed passage of the concealed carry bill is part the effort to set the stage for this year's Gubernatorial election. Maybe the Republicans can manage to avoid staging another “Et tu, Brute?” this time around. Beyond the peevishness and backstabbing of Shallenburger, they betrayed the voters in Kansas who chose that candidate. Such political sins may come back to haunt them. Eating your own is rather bad form after all.

Now a cynical person - i.e., one who observes the political process for any amount of time - might wonder how hard Republicans will try to override the veto on this bill. Having it defeated again supplies even better fodder for this fall's election.